Modifications to the Texans offense to help Case Keenum?

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With two weeks to work on the game plan against the Colts, will we see more adjustments to the Texans offense to suit what new quarterback Case Keenum does best?

In the game against the Chiefs, the Texans used substantially more shotgun/pistol formations than usual. The Texans offense under Matt Schaub in 2012 used pistol/shotgun 22% per the Football Outsiders Almanac, which ranks its usage at 32nd in the NFL.

What was most interesting was how the Texans installed plays that put Keenum in the shotgun and even occasionally in the pistol. Those moves hint at the bigger schematic change that could be to come for the Texans. As Chris Brown noted during the game on Twitter, the Texans even took things a step further.

Check out this 42-yard pass to DeVier Posey, most of which comes after the catch. It’s a simple packaged play with two primary options based off a simple read of the outside linebacker to that side, Justin Houston. If Houston contests the five-yard stick route being run by Posey in the slot, Keenum has the numbers to run the inside zone and hand the ball off to his running back. If Houston rushes the passer or contests the running play, it’s his job to throw Posey open; since the inside linebacker honors the run-action, he throws the ball inside and Posey makes a tackler miss.

Now, packaged plays aren’t anything new to the NFL, and I haven’t watched every Texans snap over the past few years, but I don’t think Gary Kubiak had this in his playbook for Schaub. It’s reminiscent of the offensive scheme Keenum ran in college, and it’s no surprise that Kubiak installed it to give Keenum a play he was experienced and comfortable running during a testing first start.

I strongly suggest reading the Keenum/Texans part of that article. He thinks that some of the concepts that Washington uses with Robert Griffin III may be used with Keenum in the offense, particularly with more time over the bye week to incorporate these things in the offense.

I asked Texans coach Gary Kubiak about its use at the time, and he responded:

We’re working on it. It fits some of the things we do, but our defense needs to see it. Just kind of like I said, we’ll do some things they need to see. Whether we do it or not, I don’t know. They’ll do a lot of things for us that we need to see, whether (Defensive Coordinator) Wade (Phillips) does it, I don’t know. We try to incorporate a little bit of everything. That is something new for us, but I think it’s been fun for the players. It’s another challenge.

Texans Defensive Coordinator, Wade Phillips was also asked about the use of the pistol:

Well our offense is running it which helps us. They are doing some of that, so we’re going to see it. We know that. Everything you see on TV when it shows a team, it shows them running that. It looks like it’s going to try to make its way in more so, but we’ll be ready.

When Matt Schaub got hurt in 2011, the Texans offense under T.J. Yates heavily relied on running back Arian Foster. But with injuries to both Foster and Ben Tate, the Texans may need to be more pass oriented than they would prefer under ideal circumstances.

After the Chiefs game, Kubiak was asked if the Texans would become more of a shotgun team in the future, and he didn’t answer and deflected the question:

[Keenum] went under center some. The first and goal at the one, we got under center. Didn’t work though, did it?

How much will the offense change? Center Chris Myers downplayed the changes prior to the Chiefs game, saying that there would be few changes to the offense:

They’re the quarterbacks and you don’t change the offense for a specific quarterback. The quarterback comes in here and runs the same offense no matter if we have Matt (Schaub), a 10-year guy, compared to Case, a second-year guy; it’s going to be the same one.

It may be the same offense but certainly there was a difference based the strengths of Keenum relative to Schaub and Yates. At a minimum, shotgun/pistol may be used more just because Keenum worked more with it during college versus under center.